Spectator Sport
by Pivot
Summary: Armada: Minicons get everywhere and see everything. Especially 'secret' training sessions...


_Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, and definitely not the Transformers mentioned herein. At least one of them I really don't want, and the rest… well, I don't own them, anyway._

_OK, it happened again. The tripwires didn't work. Bad Autobots, bad. Daft little fic of debatable quality, but it wanted writing. Anyhow, I was researching, and it occurred to me that they'd really have to practice this…_

* * *

**Spectator Sport**

Part of the fun of the training room in the Autobot base was the number of stands set up for spectators. Usually, these were the humans, but the increasing number of Minicons had led to a lot of teams getting back in training. The team leaders seemed to enjoy putting their heads together to come up with new obstacle courses and training exercises. (None was more eager than Ransack, although Spiral and Firebot had had to put their feet down at times so as to limit the risk of fatalities.) There'd been plenty of fun when the Emergency Team had been assigned to design a course: mock-ups of forest fires, collapsing buildings and even a blizzard had made for some spectacular behaviour.

The best bit, in Laserbeak's opinion, had been at the end. When the door opened just as they were turning the snow machine around.

As it turned out, Blurr made a great abominable snowman., but he'd have to run faster in future if he didn't want to be caught.

He liked the training exercises. He also liked that the Minicons had thought to enlist his help in recording and assessing their performance in the exercises. It was fun, and he got company, and it gave him something to do when the humans weren't around.

This was why, when Incinerator and Oval had asked him to come along while they trained, he had readily agreed. They'd been surprised, when they arrived, to find that the room was already occupied.

"Ready?"

There was a clang and a crash as something large and heavy and roughly Autobot-sized hit the ground.

"Hey!"

"I warned you."

"I didn't say I was ready!"

Oval turned to look at Laserbeak; the orange camera-bird was perched on Incinerator, who was still gaping at the scene before them.

"You're getting this, right?" he whispered.

Laserbeak nodded, bobbing his head ever so slightly so as not to move his lenses too much.

"Right. Here it-"

Clang. Thud.

"…Comes."

"…Ow."

"Are you OK?"

"…Huh? Oh, yeah."

"We could stop for today, if you'd like…"

"No way! I've gotta get this right before the next battle with those Decepticreeps!"

There was a sigh from one end of the room. "All right. Toss it back to me, then."

"Yeah, I know…"

Smokescreen caught the Skyboom Shield and replaced it on his Long-Arm.

"OK, comin' at-"

Clang. Thud.

"…"

"Hot Shot?"

"…"

"Can you hear me?"

"…Yeah." There was a scraping and a scrambling and a clambering to one's feet.

"You're wobbling. Are you sure-"

"I'm fine. Look: I'm standing all right now, aren't I? C'mon, let's keep practicing."

"…Yeah. You know there's a really big dent in the side of your head?"

"There is?" Yellow fingers reached up. "Aww, how'm I gonna get this out? Red Alert's gonna kill me."

"Kill _me,_ you mean. I can't believe I'm doing this."

"Yeah, yeah. I think you're throwing it too hard."

"The whole idea is that it'll get to you on the other side of the battlefield. You just have to move faster to catch it."

"Whatever."

"I really think we should stop. You're actually getting worse."

"Oh yeah? Launch it again and we'll see-"

"Sure."

Thud.

Two Minicons and a camera-bird watched in astonishment as Skyboom went sailing over the yellow heap on the floor.

Clang. Thud.

"…Oh slag."

Hot Shot sat up slowly as Smokescreen hurried over. "Was it just me, or were you throwing it really fast that time?"

"It… uh, it never hit you."

"But-"

"You collapsed just after I launched it." Smokescreen looked past Hot Shot, and the yellow warrior turned; on the floor, the Race Team separated, looking a bit dizzy but otherwise undamaged.

Hot Shot gave them a sheepish smile. "Uh, sorry, guys…"

Smokescreen hoisted the younger Autobot to his feet. "Come on. I'm getting you to the repair bay before Red Alert's recharged enough to give me slag about it."

Hot Shot didn't argue; he was just grateful the kids hadn't been around to watch his humiliation. Of course, that was why he'd decided to train at this time anyway…

"Hey, Smokescreen?"

"Yeah?"

"Tomorrow we'll try it in the corridor, OK?"

"Why?"

"Well, like you said, I'm supposed to catch it a long way away…"

The door closed behind them.

Oval turned to the others, which meant that he found himself staring directly into Laserbeak's lens. Caught off-guard, his optics flickered for a moment, but to his credit the orange warrior recovered swiftly.

"Well, now you know where to be this time tomorrow, guys!" he announced, hoping Laserbeak was still recording. "The longest corridor on the ship: I'll meet you there."

"Full marks for improvisation," said Laserbeak. "I take it you want to show this to everyone else?"

"Neat." Incinerator grinned.

"Not everyone," said Oval. "Just the ones who matter…"


End file.
